Judges 7:9–14

It happened on the same night that the LORD said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.

And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.”

Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.”

Gideon gets yet another shot of courage. He needs it, too. We know that because he takes Purah with him down to the camp. God specifically gave him that option when He said, “But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.”

What makes this such a great lesson isn’t just that God gave him that option; it’s that Gideon took it. He was honest enough with himself to choose door number 2—“I’m afraid.” A lot of guys are too macho to do that.

The benefits of being yourself with God are huge.

“Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own imagination.” — Franz Kafka

The word “necessarily” is probably worth a whole DEEP all by itself, but let’s just zoom in on this hero thing. Gideon wants to be a hero just as much as anyone else, but he’s an exception to Kafka’s rule because he realizes he’s not there yet. That’s a super rare combination, but completely understandable in this case.

Imagine being in Gideon’s shoes. The plot is thickening so fast you can barely keep up. God is definitely in contact, and that’s thrilling, but He keeps asking you to do things no sane person would do. The phrase, “Trust me,” applies here, but even with God Himself in contact, you can’t just relax and trust. So, on top of everything else, you feel guilty about your lack of faith.

Of all the wonderful things about this experience, the best thing might be how humbling it is. No way are you going to be full of yourself. You are hanging on by your fingernails while you grow at light-speed.

Welcome to judge school. God is building a servant. He does that with us too.

But if you want this kind of life you have to ask for it. Are you ready? Willing?

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.